The Kerala High Court on Friday criticised the ruling LDF and the opposition UDF in the state for their dawn-to-dusk hartal in landslide-hit Wayanad two days ago, saying that it was "irresponsible".

A division bench of justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and K V Jayakumar expressed displeasure over the hartal held in Wayanad on November 19 and termed it as "unacceptable".

The court questioned how the hartal could be justified and asked why the ruling LDF went for it.

It also asked whether a hartal was the only way to protest and said that the decision to hold it, in an area where a major disaster had occurred, was "disappointing".

The LDF and UDF hartal was a mark of protest against the lack of central assistance for the landslide victims in the mountain district even months after the disaster.

Both the ruling and the opposition parties wanted the BJP-led union government to declare the landslide calamity as a national disaster and provide required assistance for the relief and rehabilitation of the survivors at the earliest.

The observations came during the hearing of a plea initiated by the High Court for prevention and management of natural disasters in the state in the wake of the landslides that devastated three villages in Wayanad district and claimed over 200 lives.

Meanwhile, the central government informed the court that the process of providing assistance for rehabilitation and relief efforts was going on.

It said that it has already allocated Rs 153 crore from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) to the state for emergency relief operations in the disaster-hit areas.

The state government has estimated a loss of Rs 2,219 crore due to the disaster.

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